AFRICA: IMF plan offers $170 million in debt relief for ebola-impacted West Africa

from Jubilee USA

Washington DC – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is providing $330 million of financing to aid Ebola-impacted countries. The plan includes $170 million of debt relief and grant-like aid for Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. The new plan also expands a debt relief facility previously used to cancel debt after Haiti’s 2010 earthquake. The new expanded facility, the Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCR), is now a permanent debt relief facility for the world’s poorest countries when they experience shocks such as epidemics or natural disasters.

“This aid is so vital for the countries affected by Ebola,” said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious anti-poverty organization Jubilee USA Network. “Now we have a permanent debt relief vehicle for when the poorest countries face certain crises. Essentially, a global social safety net is now in place to protect the least developed countries when they experience disasters.”

$100 million of debt relief will come through the IMF’s new Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust. Another $70 million in debt relief will come from other governments who hold debt in the three countries. Concessional loans of $160 million add up to a grand total of $330 million in new financing. The package also includes a new financing mechanism designed to deliver funds to disaster-impacted countries quickly without worsening debt burdens.

“This new fund is an important, permanent tool in the fight against poverty,” noted LeCompte, who serves on United Nations expert groups on debt and global finance. “It means resources for countries that need them most at the time they need them most.”